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The Top 10 Books on DevOps You Need to Read

Jeremy Morgan on August 04, 2019

Follow me on Twitter! I'm happy to hear what you think of this, and suggestions for new articles. I've been doing DevOps for a while now, and over...
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Cain Verlinden

I personally would suggest to those who are entirely new to DevOps that they read The Phoenix Project (TPP) first because as you have said, it's a novel and can be a bit easier to digest. Also, a number of IT professionals will be able to relate and reasonate with a the issues that the Parts Unlimited IT team encounter. Then when finished with TPP, the DevOps Handbook will help concrete and firm the freshly introduced concepts from TPP.

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Jeremy Morgan

I put in that order because personally I went with the DevOps handbook first and it was a little slow for me to get through all the information. Then TPP really tied it all together for me nicely, so the 2nd time I read the DevOps handbook it was a breeze.

That's the long way of saying you're probably right, someone could go with TPP first because it's more likely to keep and catch their interest better.

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Simon Massey • Edited

Well yes, if you have seen how old IT fails then The Phoenix project book is a no-brainier. The 23 years old founder of the startup I had helped out wasn’t really best placed to learn from it.

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Raymond Karim Roberts • Edited

I am a Data Scientist, but I have read three of the books and have three of them in my amazon shopping cart before I read your list. That encourages me to continue on through and see where I find myself! Thanks.

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Chris James • Edited

Good list. I especially like that the theme is around what DevOps actually is rather than the mistake most people make which is thinking it's about technology.(I always cringe when I hear the term "DevOps engineer")

If anyone reading this finds the number of books to read intimidating you might want to look into audio books. It's a bit more expensive but I legit looked forward to my commute when listening to the phoenix project.

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Jeremy Morgan

Thank you! I agree, I have found a lot of people focus on the tools when it comes to DevOps, and I think a lot of people miss the point. DevOps isn't about just switching out tools and installing software, it's an entire shift in thinking of process.

I too went the audiobook route. Listened to a few of those on my commute, then came home to the physical books and went through highlighted and took notes. Personally it's my favorite way to really absorb something.

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teachingtechleads • Edited

Do you think "The Goal" is a prerequisite for "The Phoenix Project"? I read it first and I feel like there are a lot of callbacks in TPP that would be missed if you didn't have the reference point of who Herbie was.

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Jeremy Morgan

It could go either way. Honestly I haven't finished "The Goal" yet, but as I go through it I feel like it's the one I should have read first, not just because it was released first, but because it lays the foundation and yes there were a lot of callbacks like that. I feel after I read the goal I want to go back to TPP and I'm sure I'll understand it a lot better.

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rajesh

good list and i will prefer the first one the devops handbook for beginners as it has good information with lots of examples. DevOps Training institute in Ameerpet

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Tom VanAntwerp

I really enjoyed The Phoenix Project, but do not read it before bed. It's too real and triggering; will definitely ruin your sleep.

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Henry Quinn

What makes this different than every other list about DevOps books to read? I feel like every article/listicle/whatever all has the same set of books.

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Jeremy Morgan • Edited

That's an excellent question, and I think the reason for that of course is most people find these books useful. I did go out and see what other lists had and saw a lot of technical stuff. I don't feel tech and tools is what DevOps is all about. No more than the right hammer is the key to building a good house.

I came up with this purely on personal experience. I've been in the DevOps space around 6 years now, and I have read every one of these books with the exception of "The Goal" (not yet finished) and I haven't gone through everything in #8. So I went into my shelf and picked out the ones that were most impactful for me and my career.

I've worked on some pretty high scale transformations and I feel these books helped me learn and be successful. I'm no "DevOps master" but I knew very little about it 6 years ago and the combination of these exact books (and experience of course) have put me where I am now.

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Shawn Deggans

The Goal is one of those books that changes your brain. You should check out Dr. Edwards Demming.

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Georgi Tenev

Great list! :) I'd add Release It!: Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software to it too.

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Andres Leon

great list. I gotta ship them here to NZ and approach them this time from reading them pysically. Lets see.
Thanks

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Yexaa Consultancy Services

Good List on devops related books. I will suggest Yexaa also good for Devops Job Support